My Creative Process

 My Creative Process

    Creativity processes are unique and can look different to each person. When researching creative processes, I learned there are 'stages to the creative process.' While this may be true, I still believe that it can vary by each person. The four stages included preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification. "In the four-stage model, we can see how the internal and external elements of the creative process interact. Stages 2 and 3 are all about inspiration: dreaming reflecting, imagining, and opening up to inspiration, and allowing the unconscious mind to do its work. Stages 1 and 4, meanwhile, are about generation: doing the external work of research, planning, execution, and collaboration" (Gregoire, 2022). The combination of both the inspiration and the generation can help create a perfect balance that optimizes each individual's personal strengths in the creative process.

    My personal creative process stems from my outgoing and extroverted personality and my persistent work ethic. The stages that I seem to spend a lot of time on include the preparation and illumination stages. I focus on gathering my materials and information to determine the direction I want to go in. From there, it's a lot easier for ideas to flood my mind in the illumination stage. "Scratching is where creativity begins. It is the moment where your ideas first take flight and begin to defy gravity. If you try to rein it in, you'll never know how high you can go" (Tharp, 2006). As far as my 'scratching' process goes, I personally like to go somewhere that is calming to me. To be more specific, I prefer a place that feels like home to me. This could be my physical home, or somewhere that has people that feel like home to me. Being away from my home here in Pullman, my go-to spot to get my creative juices flowing is at any coffee shop. Unlike most people, the busyness, and loud atmosphere reminds me of my home, and helps me feel more at ease when I start to have a creative block.

Photo from iStock

Works Cited

Gregoire, C, Bishop, C., David, A., & Hogarty, S. (2022, September 28). Understanding the four stages of the creative process. Ideas. https://www.wework.com/ideas/professional-development/creativity-culture/understanding-the-four-stages-of-the-creative-process 

Tharp, T., & Reiter, M. (2006). The creative habit: Learn it and use it for life. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN: 9780743235266